At this time, football fanatics are already looking forward to the World Cup in Brazil scheduled for June 2014. Now, there is a more immediate target – getting tickets. On Tuesday, August 20 the first tickets for the Brazil World Cup 2014 became available for purchase at FIFA’s website. At the seventh hour of ticket sales, the request for one million tickets has already been recorded from fans around the world. A total of 3.3 million tickets are for the taking.
High demand
The first sales period runs until October 10. World Cup tickets are far from cheap. First round matches go for US$90 while tickets for the championship match are slated at US$990. Cheaper tickets are available, but only for Brazilian football fans.
The São Paulo Arena is the venue for the opening match on June 12, while the finals will be held at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. Brazil will play at the opener. At this time, around 168,000 requests are already in for the first match of the Brazil World Cup 2014. So far, according to FIFA, the top five countries with the most number of ticket demands are Brazil, Argentina, the United States of America, Chile, and England.
The first sales period
For newbie World Cup fans who do not know much about the ticket mechanics, here are a few useful pointers. The first sales period (August 20 to October 10) requires fans to apply for tickets. At the end of the period, the requests will be counted and processed in bulk. If there are more requests than the available number of tickets, FIFA will hold a lottery in order to determine the fortunate future ticket holders. So, this means that fans will have to wait a long while – October for the first batch of sales before they will know whether or not the coveted seats are actually theirs. Better hold off on those airline bookings for now. But then, the most avid football fans have probably booked their plane tickets by now.
Predictions
There are a total of 64 matches for football fans to look forward to in 2014 and back in 2006 FIFA reported that there were seven applicants for every ticket. They expect the same level of demand for next year’s big event. In the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, two million tickets went to the general public. The first phase demand at that time was lower than in 2006. The marketing director of FIFA, Thierry Weil said the day before the tickets became available that it was quite difficult to predict ticket outcomes. Nevertheless, FIFA expects the same high demand for next year’s Cup, similar to that of Germany in 2006.
Ticket sales schedule
Leftover ticket sales are on a first-come, first-served basis. Football hopefuls would have to wait until November 2013, specifically from November 5 to November 28 for the opportunity. It would be wise to apply on November 5 for those precious World Cup seats and not wait a day longer. On December 8, another sales phase – phase two, begins and this one lasts until January 30, 2014. Fewer tickets will be up for grabs. The second first-come, first-served run will happen on February 28 to April 1, 2014. The last chance to buy Brazil World Cup tickets anywhere will be from April 15 to July 13, 2014.
Photo Credit: Brazil’s winning bid for World Cup 2014 announced by Joseph Blatter
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Google+
LinkedIn
Email